Who Dies in ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’

Major spoilers for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

The war between General Leia Organa’s dwindling Resistance and the iron-fisted First Order wages on.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens suffered a major loss with the death of Han Solo at the hands of his twisted son Ben — a.k.a the conflicted Kylo Ren — the former padawan of disgraced Jedi Master Luke Skywalker.

Though the scale is more intimate this time around — there’s no planet-sized super-weapon threatening the entirety of the galaxy — there’s just as much at stake: the rebellion is outnumbered and on the run, the galaxy is at war, and not everyone survives.

Admiral Ackbar

Admiral Gial Ackbar, a Mon Calamari military commander who helped lead the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire, is among The Last Jedi’s first major casualties.

During the evacuation of the Resistance’s main base while under siege by a dreadnought ship and a First Order fleet, General Organa and her ship come under fire from some TIE fighters that assault and destroy the ship’s bridge — taking out the franchise veteran in the process.

With Ackbar dead and Leia wounded and in a coma, leadership is granted to Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo.

Amilyn Holdo

Leia lays indisposed and the Resistance leadership has been blown to hell, making Holdo interim leader of a frequently diminishing Resistance.

With the Resistance’s forces later running low on fuel and coming under fire by the First Order as her people try to head for safety, Holdo decides to go down with the ship, so to speak, pulling a kamikaze: Holdo makes the jump to lightspeed, ramming the Resistance ship into the Supremacy.

Though her demise isn’t shown on screen, it’s unlikely Holdo survived the resulting massive destruction.

Captain Phasma

The chrome-plated Stormtrooper is fiercely loyal to the First Order until the end. Having survived her disposal into the trash compactor in The Force Awakens, Phasma is on hand to punish Finn and Rose when they’re captured by the First Order. The pair of Resistance loyalists are about to be executed when BB-8 — overriding and manning an AT-ST — comes to the rescue.

Finn engages his old commander in battle, eventually putting her down with a well-placed smack to the helmet. After one last proud admittance that he’s “Rebel scum,” Finn watches as the floor beneath Phasma gives way — sending her to a presumed fiery death below.

Like Holdo, Phasma’s death isn’t shown on screen, and she is sporting heavy duty armor — making it a possibility she’s survived the drop into the flames below — but for now, Captain Phasma is presumed dead.

Supreme Leader Snoke

The de facto leader of the First Order has been a source of mystery since The Force Awakens, but all we know of Snoke is he was powerful with the Force and corrupted young Ben Solo while he was under the tutelage of Luke Skywalker.

During a confrontation between Snoke and Jedi-to-be Rey, Snoke’s apprentice Kylo Ren is conflicted. Rey is convinced Kylo can return to the light, but Snoke taunts the Darth Vader wannabe. Having paralyzed Rey, Snoke reaches into Kylo’s mind and learns the young Sith wants to cut down his true enemy — a vision Kylo fulfills when he uses the Force to ignite a lightsaber on Snoke’s table, impaling him.

Snoke slumps over, dead, his halved body spilling out of his chair.

Luke Skywalker

Before becoming reluctant teacher of Rey, Luke Skywalker vanished after failing Ben Solo and his attempted rebuild of the Jedi Order.

Luke hid himself away on Ahch-To, the “most unfindable place in the galaxy,” an island where Luke Skywalker has come to die. Living in exile and having willingly cut himself off from the Force, the grizzled old Jedi has forsaken the Force and the Jedi.

Drawn out by Rey and the efforts of the Resistance — lead by his Force-sensitive twin, Leia — Luke appears on Crait to help an outmanned and outgunned Resistance. The Jedi Master appears to his old apprentice one final time by way of Force trickery, revealing that he hasn’t left Ahch-To — it was all a ploy to aid the Resistance in their escape.

With Kylo thwarted, for now, a satisfied and exhausted Luke ends his astral projection.

Luke dies on a rock on Ahch-To, overlooking double suns on the horizon. The once-Jedi Master fades away, leaving just a robe behind. One last look and Luke Skywalker is gone in a blink.

Like Obi-Wan and Yoda before him, Luke is dead in body only: he has become something more. One with the Force.

Luke could return in Episode IX as a Force ghost, or he could not: Rey tells Leia that with Luke’s passing, he felt at peace.

Luke’s sacrifice was not in vain: Luke Skywalker will not be the last Jedi and the rebellion, hope renewed, lives on.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now playing.